1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a fuel cell system.
2. Background Information
Some conventional fuel cell systems are controlled to purge the fuel cells of water and accumulated non-reactive gases. An example of such a conventional fuel cell system is disclosed in Japanese PCT National Stage Publication No. 2007-517369. In this conventional fuel cell system, a normally closed solenoid valve is arranged in an anode gas feeding path to the fuel cell and a normally opened solenoid valve is arranged in an anode-off gas exhausting path between the fuel cell and a recycle (buffer) tank. Thus, the normally closed solenoid valve, the normally opened solenoid valve and the recycle (buffer) tank are arranged sequentially in such a conventional fuel cell system. In this fuel cell system, the unused anode-off gas that is discharged to the anode-off gas exhausting path is not returned to an anode gas feeding path. In other words, this fuel cell system is an anode-off gas non-circulating-type fuel cell system. In this fuel cell system, the normally closed solenoid valve and the normally opened solenoid valve are opened and closed periodically.